So Vin Baker is cleared

So Vin Baker is cleared to play…heck, he might start tonight, with Tony Battie missing the game to attend to family matters. Steve Bulpett and Shira Springer have Baker jacked and pumped to play tonight in Seattle. What are the chances Jim O’Brien gives him a DNP-CD tonight? In Bulpett’s second article, he has O’Brien saying that he’ll use Baker just as he has all season. Dan Shaughnessy weighs in, making pop-culture, literary, and past Boston sports references while asserting that the Celtics should’ve probably held Baker out of tonight’s game. Not a bad article all in all by shank. Mark Murphy also looks at Baker, and gets a friend of his to explain why Vin isn’t putting up the numbers here. I’m rather curious at the total lack of articles in the Hartford Courant regarding Baker. He is, after all, their native son. When he was traded to the Celtics there were all sorts of pieces. Maybe there are stories appearing in the print edition, but not online, but I haven’t seen anything on their web site regarding Baker other than AP articles. Peter May previews the six game, ten night trip which starts tonight in Seattle. Carolyn Thornton looks at the up and down first half and ahead to the second half for the Celtics. Christopher Price has a quick peek at the team heading into the second half as well. Steve DeOssie gives his thoughts on the Celtics as well.

A quick line for Beanpot fans….here is the page of all the Globe stories, and the page of Herald stories. Karen Guregian says BU is automatic, and Lenny Megliola says that BU is just like clockwork in winning this thing.

Gordon Edes looks at Grady Little’s arrival at camp, and says the manager pledges to be a little more….forceful this year. Michael Silverman shows that Kevin Millar is just as sick as we are about all the hoopla over his contract situation. Silverman also updates us on the equipment truck and gives a complete list of spring training invitees.

Stephen Harris looks at media mogul Jeff Hackett. Marvin Pave also looks at Hackett, who still won’t be 100% in Bruins colors when he faces the Canadiens in Montreal tonight. The Globe notebook looks at Martin Lapointe’s knee and Shaone Morrisonn being sent down to Providence. The Herald’s notebook also looks at the Providence shuttle and has more on Hackett.

Michael Felger has an article on Tom Brady’s golf weekend. Brady did make Rudy Martzke’s top interview for the weekend for when he told CBS’ Peter Kostis at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, “It’s easy to pick out the Raiders fans. They’re all the jerks.”

The Providence Journal has a nice page set up in dedication to columnist Bill Parrillo, who passed away Friday at the age of 60. Tributes from his coworkers are accompanied by a short collection of Parrillo columns.

John Molori picks Bob Ryan’s brain on the NBA at the halfway mark, and also has the section about Pete Sheppard that was talked about on the Big Show yesterday. Pete probably wouldn’t be interested, but it would be interesting to see WWZN throw a bundle of money at him to see if they can bring him over to their airwaves. That 10-12 slot is still open…Bill Griffith looks at the technology used by TNT during the all star game, has a quick review of “Red Sox this week” and among the media notes has Sean McDonough knocking “Jimmy Kimmel live” and predicting Bill Simmons will soon be back in Boston. Jim Baker reports on Pierce & Walker languishing on the bench during the All Star game as a possible snub from Isiah Thomas.

NESN has Bruins/Canadiens at 7:30. FSNE has Celtics/Sonics at 10:00. ESPN has college hoops with Michigan St/Wisconsin at 7:00, and Georgia/Kentucky at 9:00. ESPN2 has St. John’s/Villanova at 7:00. HBO has “Real Sports” at 10:00, and among the segments is a look at accidents at a few New Hampshire Ski Resorts and the fact that New Hampshire law protects ski operators from legal action in such cases: “At Loon Mountain in New Hampshire in 1999, an accident on an icy slope left one skier severely injured and two others dead. At Gunstock, NH, a skier suffered life-threatening injuries when he struck a lift tower while night skiing. In both these instances, the victims attempted to sue the properties for negligence, citing a lack of precautionary measures that might have prevented their injuries. Neither case made it to trial, though, because judges ruled that the accidents were a result of the “inherent risks” of the sport, and an existing New Hampshire statute protects operators from legal action in such cases.”